Shadowing Practice: 第一次參加公司 Happy Hour，大家都在聊天，只有我不知道該站哪裡｜Real Life Office English - Learn English Speaking with Video
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398 sentences
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1
The invitation popped up in my calendar on Thursday afternoon.
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Company happy hour, 5.30 p.m at the Kraft Pint.
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Almost immediately, people around the office started talking about it.
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Are you going tonight?
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I heard the first drink is on the company.
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Finally.
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I need one after this week.
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I smiled when Rachel from the desk across from mine looked over.
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You're coming, right?
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Yeah, I said. Of course.
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I tried to sound casual.
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Inside, I was already nervous.
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I had only been at the company for three weeks.
14
Work itself was starting to feel manageable.
15
Meetings were easy.
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Meetings had an agenda.
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They had a start time and an end time.
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Someone usually told me where to sit.
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And most importantly, I knew what my job was.
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Listen, take notes, answer questions, talk about the project.
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But happy hour?
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There was no agenda, no assigned seat, no presentation, no little box on my calendar explaining what I was supposed to do once I got there.
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It was just people standing around and talking.
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For some reason, that scared me much more than a meeting with 12 managers.
25
At 5.20, people started closing their laptops.
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Someone near the window said, Are we heading over?
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Rachel grabbed her jacket.
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You ready?
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Yep.
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I picked up my bag and followed everyone out.
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The bar was only a few minutes from the office.
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By the time we arrived, it was already loud, crowded and warm.
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Music was playing.
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Glasses were clinking.
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People were laughing over each other.
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About twenty-five co-workers had already spread themselves around several high-top tables.
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Some were sitting, some were standing, some were gathered in little groups of four or five, and somehow everyone seemed to know exactly where to go.
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Rachel spotted Daniel from sales almost immediately.
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Oh my God, where have you been all week?
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She walked toward him.
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I slowed down.
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And suddenly I was alone.
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I stood near the entrance holding my ginger ale.
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Then a surprisingly serious question entered my mind.
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do I stand?
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Literally.
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Where were my feet supposed to go?
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If I walked up to a group, was I interrupting?
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If I stood by myself, would I look lonely?
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If I stared at my phone, would I look rude?
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If I stayed near the door, would everyone think I was trying to leave?
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I looked around the room again.
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Every group seemed complete.
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Four people here, five people there.
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Everyone laughing, everyone talking fast, everyone apparently born knowing how company happy hours worked.
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So I did what I usually did when I felt socially awkward.
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I took out my phone.
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There was nothing on it.
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No new messages, no interesting emails, nothing.
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But I stared at it anyway.
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Then I realized that standing alone and pretending to text someone probably looked even more awkward.
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I'd put the phone away.
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That was when I noticed the food table.
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Perfect.
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Food gave me a reason to exist.
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I walked over, picked up a tiny plate, and began studying the snacks as if I were making an important business decision.
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There were wings, chips, vegetables, some kind of dip, little sliders.
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I wasn't even hungry, but suddenly I became extremely interested in carrots.
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I picked one up, put it on my plate, then another.
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For about five minutes, I became the woman who was very serious about vegetables.
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The strange thing was that I understood the English around me.
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I could hear people saying things like, no way, you're kidding, that was brutal, I'm so done with this week, I knew all those words,
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but I still couldn't figure out how to enter the conversation, that was when I realized something, there was the English I used in meetings, and then there was this,
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social English, people were joking, interrupting each other, telling stories I knew nothing about, using slang, reacting with expressions like,
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that's wild, seriously good for you.
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No chance.
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I understood the language.
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What I didn't understand were the invisible rules.
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It felt like watching a fast tennis match.
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The ball kept flying back and forth, and I was standing outside the court without a racket.
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Then someone walked up beside me.
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Hey, Emily.
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I turned around.
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It was Sarah from Marketing.
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Hey.
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Having fun?
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She looked at my plate.
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Then at me.
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Then back at the plate.
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I laughed.
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Absolutely.
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I've developed a very close relationship with these carrots.
93
Sarah laughed.
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Good choice.
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For some reason, that made me relax a little.
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I took a breath.
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Then I decided to tell the truth.
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Honestly, I never know what to do with these things.
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What do you mean?
100
I lowered my voice slightly.
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Like, how do you join a group without feeling like you're interrupting them?
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Sarah looked around the room.
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Then she smiled.
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Oh, she paused.
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You think everyone else knows?
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I looked at her.
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Don't they?
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She laughed.
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No. No. Some people are just better at pretending.
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That made me laugh, too.
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Then Sarah pointed toward a group standing near the window.
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Okay.
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Look at that group.
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There were four people talking together.
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See how they're standing?
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I looked more carefully.
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Three of them are facing each other, but they weren't standing in a tight circle.
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There was a gap on one side.
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Yeah, that's the easiest kind of group to join.
120
Why?
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Because they've left the circle open.
122
I looked again.
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She was right.
124
It was almost a half circle facing the room.
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Sarah pointed toward another group near the wall.
126
Now look at those guys.
127
They were standing much closer together.
128
Everyone was facing inward.
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That group is harder to enter, she said.
130
It's not impossible, but they look like they're in the middle of something.
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I had never thought about it before.
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Sarah smiled.
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Body language tells you a lot, so I should look for an open circle.
134
Exactly.
135
That sounded almost too simple.
136
Then I asked, but what do I actually say?
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You really don't need anything clever, she thought for a second.
138
You can just walk up and say, mind if I join you guys?
139
Sai repeated it quietly.
140
Mind if I join you guys?
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Perfect.
142
And then what?
143
Sarah shrugged.
144
Listen.
145
That's it.
146
That's it.
147
She smiled.
148
If there's a pause, ask something easy.
149
Try how's your week going?
150
Or ask any plans for the weekend.
151
And she added, and if they're already laughing when you walk over, just say, what did I miss?
152
I laughed.
153
Really?
154
Really?
155
She took a sip of her drink.
156
Small talk isn't about saying something brilliant, Emily.
157
Half the battle is just showing up.
158
Then she nodded toward the group near the window.
159
Come on.
160
My stomach tightened.
161
Right now.
162
Right now.
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We walked over together.
164
Sarah smiled at the group.
165
Hey, mind if Emily and I join you?
166
Chris from accounting immediately moved slightly to the side. Of course.
167
That tiny movement surprised me.
168
He had physically created a space for us.
169
I stepped into it.
170
Suddenly, I was standing inside the circle instead of outside it.
171
They were talking about weekend plans.
172
Chris said, My parents are visiting, so I'll probably spend Saturday pretending my apartment is always clean.
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Everyone laughed.
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Rachel said, You have exactly two days to hide everything in your bedroom.
175
That is currently the plan.
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Then a woman beside me turned toward me.
177
How about you, Emily?
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Anything fun planned this weekend?
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Normally, I would have said.
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Not really.
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Two words.
182
Conversation over.
183
But this time I tried something different.
184
I'm thinking about checking out the farmer's market downtown.
185
I've never been." Her face immediately changed.
186
"'Oh, you should.
187
I go all the time.
188
Really?
189
Yeah.
190
Just go early.' It gets crazy around noon," Chris nodded, and there's this bakery there with amazing cinnamon rolls.
191
Rachel looked at him.
192
"'You recommend that bakery to literally everyone, because I care about people.
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Everyone laughed.
194
I did too.
195
Then I asked Chris, what do you usually get there?
196
And suddenly I was having a conversation.
197
Nothing impressive, nothing brilliant.
198
I hadn't used any difficult vocabulary.
199
Nobody applauded my grammar.
200
I had simply asked a normal question, and the conversation kept moving.
201
A few minutes later, someone mentioned taking a road trip.
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I asked, Oh nice, where are you driving to?
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Someone complained about how busy the week had been.
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I said, Yeah, it's been a long one.
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Has it always been this busy?
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That led to another conversation.
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I slowly started to understand what Sarah meant.
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I didn't need to create the conversation from nothing.
209
I could listen for something interesting and respond to it.
210
The pressure I had been putting on myself started to disappear.
211
Then something else happened.
212
The group changed.
213
Rachel went to get another drink.
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Chris saw someone he knew across the room.
215
Two other people started talking about a project I wasn't involved in.
216
Suddenly, I was standing next to Jason from operations.
217
Neither of us said anything for a few seconds.
218
Old me would have panicked.
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New me decided to try.
220
How's your week going?
221
Jason laughed.
222
Honestly, I'm glad it's almost over.
223
Long week?
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Very.
225
He looked at me.
226
You're new, right?
227
Three weeks?
228
Oh, wow.
229
So you're still in the stage where everyone asks, how's everything going?
230
I laughed.
231
Every day.
232
And you have to say, great, even though you still don't know where half the meeting rooms are.
233
Yes, that immediately gave us something to talk about.
234
Jason had joined the company the year before.
235
He told me he once walked into the wrong conference room
236
and sat through the first three minutes of somebody else's meeting because he was too embarrassed to leave.
237
I laughed.
238
What did you do?
239
I finally said, I'm starting to think I'm in the wrong meeting.
240
What happened?
241
They said, we were starting to think that too.
242
I laughed so hard that some of my nervousness finally disappeared.
243
A little later, Jason asked, are you getting a drink?
244
Oh, I'm good with this.
245
I held up my ginger ale.
246
You don't drink.
247
Sometimes.
248
I just don't really feel like it tonight.
249
Fair enough.
250
And that was it.
251
No strange look.
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No explanation.
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No pressure.
254
That was another thing I had worried about for no reason.
255
Happy hour didn't mean everyone had to drink alcohol.
256
Some people had beer.
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Some had cocktails.
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Some had soda.
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Some had sparkling water.
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Nobody cared.
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About 20 minutes later, I walked over to get another ginger ale.
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When I turned around, I saw a group near the bar laughing.
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I recognized one person from my team.
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For a moment I hesitated.
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Then I noticed something.
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Their circle was open.
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I could almost hear Sarah's voice.
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You don't need anything clever.
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I walked over.
270
Hey, mind if I join you guys?
271
Yeah, of course.
272
Someone moved over.
273
As I stepped in, another guy was finishing his story.
274
Everyone laughed.
275
I smiled.
276
What did I miss?
277
He pointed at another coworker.
278
Tom just admitted he accidentally sent his mom a message that was supposed to go to his girlfriend.
279
I looked at Tom.
280
Oh no. Tom covered his face.
281
It gets worse.
282
And just like that, I was in another conversation.
283
No one had asked for my resume.
284
No one had tested my vocabulary.
285
I had just stepped into an open space and said six words.
286
Later that evening, I noticed a woman standing alone near the end of the bar.
287
Her name was Priya.
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I had seen her around the office but had never talked to her.
289
She was holding a drink with both hands, and she was looking at her phone, I recognized that pose immediately.
290
That had been me 45 minutes earlier.
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Part of me wanted to stay where I was.
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But another part remembered how relieved I had felt when Sarah came over.
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So I walked toward her.
294
Hey, Priya, right?
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She looked up, her face immediately relaxed.
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Yeah, Emily.
297
Yup, hi.
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I stood beside her.
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Is this your first company happy hour too?
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She laughed.
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Yes.
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Is it that obvious?
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No. I smiled.
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It's mine too.
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She looked around the room.
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I honestly have no idea where I'm supposed to stand.
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I burst out laughing.
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Okay, you're going to think I'm joking, but that was literally my first thought when I walked in.
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Really?
310
Really?
311
I spent the first five minutes pretending to be fascinated by carrots.
312
She laughed.
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That actually makes me feel so much better.
314
Then I pointed toward a group nearby.
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See that group?
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Yeah.
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See the space in their circle?
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She looked.
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Yeah.
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Apparently that's the secret.
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What secret?
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Open circle.
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I smiled.
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Come on, I'll show you.
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I couldn't believe those words were coming out of my mouth.
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Less than an hour ago, I had been hiding behind the snack table.
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Now I was helping someone else join a conversation.
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We walked over together.
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I caught someone's eye.
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Mind if we join you guys? Of course.
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They made room.
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Priya looked at me and smiled, and I suddenly understood something.
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Confidence hadn't arrived all at once.
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I hadn't suddenly become an outgoing person.
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I had simply learned what to do next.
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Around seven, people slowly started heading home.
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I had originally planned to stay for 20 minutes.
338
I had been there for almost an hour and a half.
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Rachel found me near the door.
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You survived.
341
Barely.
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She smiled.
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Did you have fun?
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I looked around the room.
345
Actually, yeah.
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See?
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I spent the first 10 minutes wondering where I was supposed to put my feet.
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Rachel laughed.
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That sounds about right.
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I put on my jacket and stepped outside.
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The evening air felt cool after the crowded bar.
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As I walked home, I thought about how nervous I had been.
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I had imagined everyone else would be confident.
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Funny.
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Socially perfect.
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They weren't.
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Some people talked a lot.
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Some barely talked.
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Some stayed for two hours.
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Some left after 20 minutes.
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Some drank beer.
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Some drank soda.
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Some moved easily between groups.
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Others stood quietly and waited for someone to say hello.
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Real conversations weren't smooth either.
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People interrupted each other.
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They forgot what they were saying.
368
They missed jokes.
369
They said things like, sorry, go ahead, or wait, what were we talking about?
370
Or I completely lost my train of thought.
371
That night taught me something I had never learned from an English textbook.
372
Speaking English at work isn't only about knowing what to say in a meeting.
373
Sometimes it's about understanding the little social signals nobody explains, an open circle, a smile, eye contact, a space someone makes for you.
374
And sometimes all you need are a few simple words.
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Mind if I join you guys?
376
How's your week going?
377
What did I miss?
378
The next month the company had another happy hour.
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When I walked into the bar, I still felt a little nervous.
380
But this time, I didn't take out my phone.
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I didn't hide beside the food table.
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I looked around.
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Near the window, I saw Chris and a few other co-workers talking.
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Their circle was open.
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Chris noticed me.
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He smiled and moved slightly to the side.
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There was a space waiting for me.
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I walked over.
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Hey guys, mind if I join you? Of course.
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And just like that, I finally knew where to stand.
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Not because someone had given me a rule book, not because my English had suddenly become perfect, but because I had learned that social English wasn't a test I had to pass.
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I didn't have to be the funniest person in the room.
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I didn't have to talk to everyone.
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I didn't need perfect grammar or clever stories.
395
Sometimes I just needed to walk over, smile, and give the conversation a chance, And if everything else failed, there were always the carrots.
396
If stories like this help you understand the English people actually use in real life, subscribe to Fluent Trail English and keep learning with me.
397
We'll practice real conversations, awkward moments, and the little expressions that textbooks often leave out.
398
I'll see you in the next story.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “第一次參加公司 Happy Hour，大家都在聊天，只有我不知道該站哪裡｜Real Life Office English”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: looked, laughed, walked, smiled, conversation. This video has 398 sentences and 2692 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:36. The speaker talks at a natural 173 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 60 of its 398 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| interrupt verb | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/ | To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking. |
| carrot noun | /ˈkæɹət/ | A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, family Apiaceae, especially the subspecies sativus. |
| beside | /bɪˈsaɪd/ | Next to; at the side of. |
| pretend verb | /pɹəˈtɛnd/ | To speak or behave so as to give a false or simulated appearance. |
| ginger noun | /ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/ | The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative. |
| clever adjective | /ˈklɛv.ɚ/ | Nimble with hands or body; dexterous; skillful; adept. |
| awkward adjective | /ˈɔk.wɚd/ | Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments. |
| bakery noun | /ˈbeɪ.kə.ɹi/ | A place in which bread (and often other baked goods such as cakes) is baked and/or sold. |
| nod verb | /nɑd/ | To incline the head up and down, as to indicate agreement. |
| textbook noun | /ˈtɛkst.bʊk/ | A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| snack noun | /snæk/ | A light meal. |
| stare verb | /stɛɚ/ | To look fixedly (at something). |
| vegetable noun | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ | A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice… |
| socially adverb | /ˈsoʊʃəli/ | In a social manner; sociably. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| walk over verb | To gain an easy victory. |
| look around verb | To inspect a building or area. |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. |
| take out verb | To remove. |
| turn around verb | To physically rotate (usually around a vertical axis) for a half turn (180 degrees), a whole turn (360 degrees), or an indefinite amount. |
| burst out verb | To appear suddenly from within something else. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Where were my feet supposed to go?
- If I stood by myself, would I look lonely?
- You think everyone else knows?
- Then I asked, but what do I actually say?
- Try how's your week going?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If I stood by myself, would I · If I stared at my phone, would I · If I stayed near the door, would everyone |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have you been · I've developed · they've left |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were gathered · wasn't involved · be fascinated |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was starting · was playing · were clinking |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 52 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, breathe /bɹiːð/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: socially /ˈsoʊʃəli/, invitation /ɪnvɪˈteɪʃən/, casual /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, manageable /ˈmænəd͡ʒəb(ə)l/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/, invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like interrupt, carrot, beside.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.